


Lessons

by orchidbreezefc



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Humor, Swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 14:42:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19378801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orchidbreezefc/pseuds/orchidbreezefc
Summary: Prompt:Sammy finds out Ben never learned to swim as a child and the two decide to take a day trip to Lake Hatchenhaw with Emily to rectify this.





	Lessons

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [kfamchallenge](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/kfamchallenge) collection. 



> Thanks for the great prompt! Hope you enjoy!

"Come on, Sammy," Ben had whined at first. "You can't tell Emily about this! She's going to think I'm not cool!"

Sammy leveled Ben with a look withering enough that it was practically redundant for him to say, "Ben, you _aren't_ cool," but Sammy Stevens has never been in the business of _not_ saying whatever snarky thought comes to mind at all times.

"Yeah, but Emily doesn't know that!"

"She most definitely does, Ben."

"But she doesn't know I can't swim! Please! Preserve the last vestiges of my dignity!" Ben pleaded, actually clasping his hands in front of Sammy in supplication.

They had agreed that going down to Lake Hatchenhaw for the day and teach Ben to swim so that he could swim with Emily, who apparently loved the activity, seemed great and sensible, until the suggestion that Emily actually be there. That, for some unknown Bennish reason, is where the line had to be drawn.

Sammy looked at Ben with a calculation that Ben knew to dread. "If Emily comes along, you might be able to see her in a swimsuit."

Ben's mouth snapped shut, then he narrowed his eyes. "Don't bribe me with that. That's a low blow."

"Below the belt, you could say."

"Sammy!"

"Low-hanging fruit, even."

"SAMMY."

Sammy held his hands up. "I just don't want to leave her out of something we're doing more or less on her behalf."

This seemed to give Ben actual pause. Somewhere scrawled in his heart stats is an honor system that forbids leaving Emily in the dark about something that concerns her. Or at least it had better be scrawled there since all the shit with the notebook, or Sammy will damn well scrawl it for him.

"All right," Ben surrendered. "Emily can come. But if either of you do your ganging-up-on-me thing that you do--"

"No ganging up. Scout's honor," Sammy swore, and when Ben just squinted suspiciously, he spread his hands. "Hey, man, you're learning a new thing. Broadening your horizons. That's admirable. I'm trying to be a good person here, most of the time. I wouldn't make fun of you for that."

Something in his face convinced Ben, who dropped his shoulders. "Yeah. Cool. Thanks. That means I need to buy a swimsuit, I guess."

Sammy hadn't taken much from LA to King Falls, and even less remained after four years and an apartment switch, so as it turns out he needs some too. Ben jokes a couple times about getting speedos, and then makes a couple decidedly less facetious comments about getting matching pairs of trunks. In the end Sammy finds a sensible and minimalist pair, and Ben gets something that reminds him of mountain forests, even though Sammy is sure it's just a mess of triangles.

Emily does indeed wear a swimsuit. It's the kind with the little skirt, but that doesn't seem to make a difference to Ben, who is still entirely heart eyes over the look. She tactfully explains that she's going to read a book on the beach while Ben gets over the worst of the initial flailing. Then she sets up with a towel on the beach--or the 'beach', as Sammy keeps referring to it, scare quotes and all. As a coastal dweller, born and bred, he is not terribly impressed by the lake's surrounding ring of sand.

Still, it's a serviceable, if cold, place to learn, and Ben is considerably less concerned about things like deadly box jellyfish and stonefish than he would be otherwise. Sammy's attempts to point out that the concern of saltwater ocean creatures in a mountain lake should be zero go unheard. And anyway, Kingsie is quite friendly, or so Ron swears.

Ben still doesn't like the look of the water when Sammy leads him by the hand toward it. "What if it's, like--like fish pee, or there's dead crabs and I step on them, or--"

"If freshwater crabs even exist, I'm pretty damn sure they don't around here, and as for the fish pee, I have bad news for you about just about every natural water feature you could ever swim in," Sammy says, tugging Ben further even as he starts anxiously digging in his heels.

"Maybe I shouldn't, then!" Ben babbles. "Maybe I was wrong and this was a terrible idea and wow, look at the time, I should really go do that thing--"

"See, now would be the time to worry about looking uncool in front of Emily," Sammy says, nodding over toward where she has looked up from her book at the commotion.

Ben stops pulling back against Sammy's grip and bites his lip. "I..."

"It'll be okay," says Sammy, who also stops dragging Ben. He places his hands on Ben's shoulders and looks him in the eye. "I've got you. I won't let anything happen. Okay? Just look at me."

Ben glances down at the water and back up at Sammy. Sammy takes both of Ben's hands and starts walking backwards, step by step, into the lake. Ben follows this time, focusing on Sammy's face.

"Good," Sammy murmurs, even though they both wince at the temperature of the mountain water, freezing even in midday. As it starts sloshing up around Ben's thighs he starts breathing heavier, but doesn't look away from Sammy. "See? There's half the battle, you're in the water. Now you just have to learn to move in it."

For once Ben has no nervous babble or bizarre Ben-isms to say. His teeth are clenched tight and his hands are white-knuckled on Sammy's arms. He's shaking, not just from the temperature.

The next obstacle is the fact that Sammy does not have the first idea how to teach someone to swim, let alone without a pool edge to hold onto. He ends up mostly showing Ben the motions and then hoisting him by the waist so he has the freedom of motion to repeat them. It's a horrifically awkward setup until Sammy makes a crack about the scene in Dirty Dancing where they practice lifts in the lake, which makes Ben laugh so much he forgets to be terrified.

The structure of the afternoon goes downhill from there. Ben starts a splashfight, not realizing Sammy has a significant advantage in terms of technical experience. When his loss is looking inevitable, Ben changes strategies and tackles Sammy into the shallows. They both surface laughing and coughing and slinging mud at each other.

This is the point where Emily puts her book aside and approaches. She stands over them with her hands on her hips, doing a decent job of hiding a smile. "Is this your idea of education, Stevens?"

Sammy splashes her. She and Ben give simultaneous indignant squawks, and Ben pushes Sammy back under the water.

"Apologize to Emily!" Ben demands, slinging himself over Sammy's hips to better hold Sammy down.

"What are you gonna do, Ben, waterboard me?" Sammy splutters out.

"Don't tempt me!"

"Emily! Call off your guard dog!" Sammy shouts, flailing in Emily's direction.

Emily laughs and waves Ben off. He reluctantly lets Sammy go and, as repayment, Sammy refrains from making a whip noise.

"There was never any chance you were actually going to learn anything today, was there?" Emily says, crouching next to Ben and pushing wet hair out of his face.

"Day's not over," Ben protests at exactly the same time as Sammy says, "Not really."

Emily laughs. "We can teach you at an actual pool sometime. For now, though..." She flings water at Ben, who howls in betrayal and rounds on her.

Sammy may have been right about Emily never thinking he was cool again, but if Ben can win the splashfight, well. That's a pretty good consolation prize.


End file.
